Very sorry for your loss. If your spouse was still alive as
of December 31, 2016, you should file your 2016 return jointly with your late
spouse.
If your spouse died in 2016, you
should also file jointly with your late spouse unless you remarried in 2016. In that case, you'd file a joint return
with your new spouse and file your deceased spouse's return as Married Filing
Separately.
If your spouse died in 2014 or
2015, you didn't remarry in 2016, and you have a dependent child, you might be
able to file as a Qualifying Widow(er) which has certain tax advantages. When
you go through the Personal
Info section in TurboTax, we'll
ask a series of questions to determine if you meet those requirements.
There's no reason to change the
name order on a joint return filed with a deceased spouse. When you enter or
review his or her info, just make sure you check Passed away before filing this return and enter the date of passing.
Changing the name order is not
necessary and may cause delays in processing your tax return.
